"Today we're finally going to talk about that Facebook phone," quipped CEO Mark Zuckerberg immediately after walking out during a packed invite-only event on Thursday morning.

Zuckerberg went on to explain the inspiration behind the social network's new mobile strategy, suggesting that instead of designing phones around apps first, why not "design around people first" and then interact with the apps.

During the live demo, Adam Mosseri, Facebook's director of product, said that the purpose of Home is to shift attention away from tasks and apps to their friends instead.

But he also admitted that apps are still important. Thus, Home extends Facebook's app portfolio beyond the basic native social network and messaging apps to consist of a graphic-heavy cover feed of updates and an app launcher for bookmarking favorite apps.

One feature that particularly integrates Facebook's messaging service is Chat Heads.

That could end up presenting serious competition not only for service providers when it comes to texting, but also Android's maker, running up against the combination of Gmail, Google Chat and Google Plus.

Slated to launch in the next week, Facebook Home for Android can be downloaded from Google Play. It will be rolling out for at least five Android smartphones first, but support on tablets won't follow for at least "several months."

Nevertheless, Facebook execs promised that new features for Home will roll out "every month."

HTC and AT&T team up on Facebook Home

Zuckerberg singled out HTC and AT&T as partners on Home, noting they have worked together to build first set of phones with Facebook Home pre-loaded.

HTC CEO Peter Chou introduced the HTC First, which he described as the "ultimate social phone" as well as a "great opportunity to bring social and mobile together."

"It will give you the best Facebook experience," Chou boasted, asserting that the HTC First is the only phone pre-loaded and optimized for Home.

AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega touted that he thinks that the HTC First offers the most engagement on a smartphone that he has ever seen.

Outfitted in four colors (black, white, red and baby blue), the HTC First runs on AT&T's 4G LTE network. It will retail for $99.99 with a two-year service agreement when it goes on sale on April 12. Pre-orders open up today.

"At one level, this is just the next mobile version of Facebook," Zuckerberg concluding, adding that at a deeper level, he suggested it's possible this will change the relationship we have with computing devices in our lives overall.

"We're about to see the most empowered generation of people in history," Zuckerberg said. "It's a deeply technical problem, but it's also a deeply social problem."

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive based in San Francisco, covering business and enterprise technology for ZDNet, CNET and SmartPlanet.
She has previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish Americ...
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